Timbers giveaway includes skate decks and two points

I’ve watched a lot of the highlights from last night’s Timbers – AC St. Louis match, read other match reports for their insights, looked at the pictures I took at the match, and reviewed the various parts of play within my mind, and nothing about what I saw made much sense. How can a team have such a decisive advantage statistically yet only score one goal? How can that same team have such an advantage but yet be entirely predictable in their approach? How can their opponents only mount one true offensive run in the entire match, yet they walk away with a point after being dominated?

photo by Kip Kesgard, community blogger. Ryan Pore on the attack against AC St. Louis. Soccer, like most sports, doesn’t make sense at points like this, and after last night’s 1-all draw between the Timbers and AC St. Louis, I’m still not sure what to think about the team. The official statistics of the match show a 14 to 3 advantage in shots, and with GM and Coach Gavin Wilkinson adjusting his starters from Thursday, the team did seem to play with more intensity and crispness. After the upset loss to CP Baltimore, Wilkinson pulled out forward George Josten, midfielder Brian Farber and defender Steven Keel, and replaced them with O.J. Obatola up top, Alex Nimo in the middle and Steve Purdy in the backline. Purdy was actually a starter on Thursday, but was filling in for the suspended Mamadou Danso, who returned after his red card dismissal against Vancouver. While I can’t disagree with the changes in the starting lineup, I found it odd that Josten and Farber weren’t even dressed for the match, despite them playing relatively well for most of the early season.
photo by Kip Kesgard, community blogger. PGE Park had a huge crowd on Saturday night, buyoed by the nice weather and a prize giveaway of a Timbers skate deck to the first 2,000 fans.

Unlike Thursday’s match where the Timbers played an absolutely anemic first half of soccer, they played with more intensity and spirit this night. However, AC St. Louis appeared to have a little confidence going for them since their last trip to PGE Park, after getting their first win of the season against CP Baltimore on May 1st and playing relatively well in a 2 to 1 loss at Rochester. Within the first 20 minutes of the match, the Timbers swarmed the box and tested AC St. Louis goalkeeper Alec Dufty with quite a few shots, including a nasty header from Obatola at the 8th minute and a Danso header on goal around minute 16. The trend continued even after AC St. Louis started to find some space and get the ball into their end, as the Timbers relentlessly attacked. Nimo had by far the best chance with a dipping shot at the 34th minute, but Dufty saved the chance, which seemed to give confidence to an AC St. Louis backline that needed it. The defense was bending quite a bit, but not breaking, which was the same theme that CP Baltimore played on Thursday night. Despite all of the chances, including two extremely good chances generated by Johan Claesson, the Timbers left the field at halftime scoreless despite the dominant effort.

With no changes at the half, things got off to an extremely similar start in the second half: Portland was controlling the ball and possession yet not scoring a goal while AC St. Louis countered if simply to try and change up the momentum and put the Timbers back on their heels. The quality chances continued for the Timbers when Quavas Kirk collected a weak Nimo shot and dropped the ball into midfielder Ryan Pore. Pore put a point blank shot on goal, and only a kick save by Dufty kept the ball from hitting the net. You could tell that Dufty’s play had significantly improved from the keeper the Timbers saw on April 22nd, as he was much more composed on the pitch and did a better job of directing his defenders.

photo by Kip Kesgard, community blogger. The Timbers' overall effort was greater Saturday night, as players were giving it their all most of the night. Here, O.J. Obatola passes the ball while lying on the ground

However, Dufty’s confidence was shaken in the 66th minute when Pore intercepted a lazy clearing pass from an AC St. Louis defender and passed the ball to forward Mandjou Keita. Keita settled the ball, spun to his left and launched a laser that clipped the left hand corner of the net, and the Timbers had their first goal of the evening. For a team that had thorough domination in most aspects of the game, it was a welcome sight to see some fruits from their labor. For Keita, this was also his first goal since returning to the team, and I could sense some relief for him to finally put the ball on target.

The Timbers continued to attack, but their chances were thwarted by some improved AC St. Louis defense and a rather curious no call by center official Juan Guzman in the 75th minute. Defender Ian Joy had shaken loose from his man and received a wonderful pass forward that he was able to run under towards goal. However, AC St. Louis defender Dillon Barna caught up with Joy, and they collided inside the penalty box with Joy staying on the turf for a few moments. It appeared that Barna had elbowed Joy in an attempt to defend him, then landed on his ankle for further measure, but Guzman called no foul or penalty on the play. Yet just two minutes later, AC St. Louis gained a free kick from similar contact on their end.

photo by Kip Kesgard, community blogger. This shot was taken just before Timbers defender Ian Joy and AC St. Louis defender Dillon Barna collided in the penalty box area.

Nearing stoppage time, the Timbers appeared to have confidence in the result but AC St. Louis weren’t going to give up quietly, as they started to press things late. Midfielder Manuel Kante collected a crossing pass and launched a shot that Danso blocked with an effective slide tackle as the clock hit 90 minutes. Soon after that, AC St. Louis midfield substitute Ryan Moore crossed a ball into the Portland penalty box that forward Alex Titton redirected towards the net. Unfortunately, AC St. Louis midfielder Mike Ambersley got in the way of the shot and blocked it. But before Timbers midfielder Tony McManus could clear the ball or mark Ambersley, he calmly collected the ball and shot it into the right hand corner of the net past a startled Timbers goalkeeper Steve Cronin. The game was now level, and AC St. Louis players gathered and celebrated right in front of the Timbers Army section. A few moments later, the whistle blew and the game ended as a draw.

It’s in this respect that soccer can be such a cruel game. While Portland was dominant in so many aspects of the game, they failed to capitalize on some great opportunities that could have provided some insurance goals. AC St. Louis was able to hang around for most of the game despite being outplayed and turned one chance into a leveling goal, and even that wasn’t too easy for them. Even though it was a draw and both teams received a point for the result, the Timbers were frustrated at the result and I think they had good reason to be disappointed.

For the second straight match, they allowed an opponent that they should have easily beaten to remain in the match. AC St. Louis turned back some early chances that seemed to help their confidence, and the longer the match remained scoreless, the more confidence they gained. Even after the Timbers got the one goal lead, AC St. Louis didn’t back down or give up like they had in their previous visit here. It also appeared that the Timbers offense got very predictable for most of the match, relying upon long forward passes launched while players made a run on the penalty box. AC St. Louis countered that with some extra defenders entering late in the game, and some timely saves by Dufty. The Timbers seemed to lack a little creativity in their approach at points, though, and I felt that this could have helped surprise their opponents a bit.

photo by Kip Kesgard, community blogger. For a few moments, the Timbers were able to celebrate scoring a goal and taking a lead in their match with AC St. Louis. The visitors leveled the match later in stoppage time, though.

Overall, the Timbers appear to have some more work to do to solve their current offensive woes. It was expected that Keita’s return would revitalize this offense, but it appears that all it has done is cause some uncertainty on roles and playing time. This also coincided with some defensive lapses that cost the team some points, especially with the slew of early season games at home. The Timbers hope to right things on Wednesday night, May 19th, when they face the Montreal Impact at 7 PM. The special Wednesday match will be the last USSF Division 2 home match for May, as the Timbers travel to Crystal Palace Baltimore to face them this coming Saturday, May 22nd before returning to finish the month with a friendly game versus Boca Juniors on Saturday, May 29th.

My man of the first team’s match was Ian Joy, who was all over the pitch and provided quality play and leadership. I saw remarked improvement from Kirk, Claesson, Marcelin and Keita from Thursday’s affair, which helped stabilize the team’s effort, but they needed some better play from Purdy, who seemed to be the attack point for AC. St. Louis. I also felt that Danso played effectively after his one game off, but he appeared to drift from position at times, which better teams would recognize and take advantage of.

I wonder if Pore is struggling a bit to find his shot now that Keita is back. It appears that Pore, the early season scoring threat, has started to defer that role to Keita, and it’s causing the offense to stagnate at points.

The crowd was over 10,000 but it appeared most of the crowd was there for the big giveaway of commemorative skate decks, and seemed less interested in the sporting event. I felt Thursday’s crowd was far more consistently vocal, despite being slightly smaller in size.